The HTC Aria a sweet and petite mid-range Android phone. It has a 3.2" capacitive multi-touch display that runs at 320 x 480 resolution with an accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor. The Aria has a 600MHz CPU that keeps the phone running smoothly and it didn't send us running back to our 1 GHz Nexus One. For the $129 price tag with a 2 year contract, the Aria is a strong smartphone thanks to Android OS 2.1 and HTC Sense software.

The usual smartphone features are here: WiFi, Bluetooth, a 5 megapixel camera with autofucs lens, 3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, a GPS that works with Google Maps, AT&T Navigator and AT&T Maps.

The Aria has the usual Android Webkit web browser, gmail, e-mail with MS Exchange support, Google Maps, Gtalk, YouTube and Google news. HTC's Peep, Friendstream, stocks and glorious weather are here too. Unless you're smitten with the impossible to procure iPhone 4, the Aria is worth a look. Our only complaint? AT&T has once again blocked installation of non-Google Market apps. For those of you who play with beta software that's not on the Android Market, that's a downer.